Sonic's Legacy: Volume 3: Fall of Innocence
by StoryWolf
Summary: The moment you think it's all coming together…that's when everything tends to fall apart. The young Freedom Fighters are about to learn this truth the hard way as their efforts, their dreams, and their relationships are tested to the point beyond any of them could ever hope to repair. Will the Freedom Fighters new team fall to ruin?
1. Chapter 44: Marked

_**Sonic's Legacy: Volume 3**_

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sonic or the characters from Sonic Team or Sega. Though some of these characters were created by me, the basic style and likeness of these characters originated from the creators of the Sonic comics and Sonic games, as well as the companies Sonic Team and Sega. Thank you and enjoy this unofficial story.

Keep in mind that this is the third Volume of the first book. If you are new to the story and have just found this story, you might want to read the first volume first. (Links don't work in here as I have found out. ^^; So, it's called Sonic's Legacy: Volume 1, The Hero's Child. You can find it at my profile :D

For those of you that have stayed with me since before the changing from one story to volumes thanks for sticking with me through the chaos :D You guys are the best :D

For those of you that are returning readers from the first and second volume, I won't keep you waiting any longer.

Enjoy :D

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_**Chapter 44: Marked**_

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**Narrator: None, third person format.**

The female hedgehog slept peacefully on the couch, she had finally fallen asleep sometime during the early morning, gaining some much needed rest from the lack of it for the past couple days.

Groggily, she noticed that the blanket she was using to keep her warm in the cold rundown base kept sliding off. Feeling herself shiver, but not fully awakening, the hedgehog reached blindly down and grabbed the comforter, covering herself once again.

She started noticing that something was touching her foot, but figured that it must've been one of Jodi's feet, who was sleeping on the other end of the couch that night and ignored it. Suddenly, she started feeling something actually tugging and pulling on her foot.

Surprised, the hedgehog opened one of her eyes, thinking that it must be one of Zephyr's pranks. But when her eyes met the sky blue irises of a familiar small flying creature, her eyes widened. "Night?!"

With the lack of balance from Night pulling her foot, Nikki suddenly felt herself slide off the couch to the floor. "Whoa! Omph!"

Still a little sleepy, she slowly got up, blowing the bangs out of her face. She then gave the young dark Chao a look, raising one of her eyebrows. "Well good morning Mister Bossy."

"Chao!" Night piped happily seeing that his plan to wake his friend worked. He then swiftly flew toward her and nuzzled her.

"Okay, okay calm down." Nikki said between laughing.

Nikki suddenly realized something and gave Night a confusing look. She left the Chao at the Freedom Fighter's base with Cream…so then…"Wait a minute, how did you get here anyway?"

Meanwhile, in the Genesis Base's kitchen, Tails had woken up and had boiled some water, being as despite the kitchen having a working freezer the size of a market, the treatment system for the water needed desperately to be repaired. But he did manage to find some coffee and made it the old fashioned way, without a coffee maker. He was just about to take a sip when…

"What the hell?!"

The fox jumped at the sudden shout and spilled half of the precious coffee on his lab coat. "Yeow! That's hot."

As a normal reaction, he quickly tried to brush it off the coat. He then looked at his half empty cup and sighed. "Well, that's unfortunate. Better go see what that was about."

The twin tailed fox ran out to the hanger, he wasn't too worried, since he knew who the voice belonged to and it didn't sound distressed…it was more annoyed. Right now, Tails could relate.

Tails made it to the hanger and asked. "What's going on out here?"

Most of the group was already up. Though none of them would admit it, the abandoned base wasn't an ideal place to get a good night's sleep in the first place. But then again, it did outweigh the alternative, trying to get home at 2am in the morning. So…being woken up at 5am…most of them were not in a pleasant mood…

Jade especially. "Lara's dad is yelling his head off, as usual." The Oce-Bat rudely commented.

Frustrated, the echidna looked to his twin-tailed comrade. "Someone snuck in here and got into our emergency stash in the X Tornado 2!"

Tails blinked then raised an eyebrow, he was still way too tired to deal with the echidna's loud voice right now. "Say what now?"

"Look."

At Knuckles' request, more to get him to stop yelling more than anything, Tails shrugged and walked toward the plane. His eyes widened when he saw the small cargo hold was open. He looked confusingly at the mess of spilled food boxes on the floor. Though it did look like something had messed with the cargo, it didn't look like anything was really missing.

"Huh, interesting…" Tails assessed. "Sure it's a mess, but everything's here…no damage to the plane either."

"That's strange, why wouldn't they take anything?" Lara-Su asked with slight confusion.

The fox then turn to the older echidna and asked. "Did you see anyone?"

Knuckles answered him. "No, I woke up and when I walked out here I saw that."

Suddenly, Nikki dashed into the hanger with Night on her shoulder. "Is everything okay? I heard someone screaming."

"Chao." Night piped behind her.

Both Knuckles and Tails looked at the Chao with equally surprised and confused looks.

The fox then turned to Knuckles and busted into laughter. "There's your 'thief', Knuckles. That's why nothing was taken, Night just stowed away on the plane."

"Yeah, the poor guy just missed me. Huh Buddy?"

The young Dark Chao answered his blue-furred friend with a nuzzle and a purr, which Nikki returned with a gentle brush on the Chao's head with her hand.

"Awe." Gale giggled.

"So, what time is it? Didn't get a chance to look at the clock." The blue hedgehog asked sheepishly.

Zephyr answered her with a yawn. "5am."

Nikki blinked. "What? Really? Man, I only got like 2 hours of sleep then."

"Yeah, join the club." Jade muttered as she rolled her eyes, then points to her bee comrade. "Surprised any of us got any sleep with Sir Snores A-lot over here."

"What? I don't snore!"

At that response, everyone laughed.

"Oh yes you do."

Argul looked at his comrades confused. "Well I didn't hear anything."

"Are you kidding?" His Oce-Bat comrade laughed. "You'd sleep through an invasion, let alone Lucky's snoring"

Seeing that they were getting off topic, Tails brought the group back. "Okay, okay, that's enough. Now I do believe that Jodi wanted to show us something and…"

The tired fox let out a sigh as he continued. "…since we're all already awake, might as well start now." He then stepped to the side and looked to the female ferret behind him. "Jodi?"

"Thanks Tails." Jodi cleared her throat and looked to the group. "Okay, so some of you that were at Charles' lab a couple days ago know the issue that we had with the Sleeper."

"Pfft, we didn't." Argul muttered, sounding disappointed he wasn't able to help in that event. "We got locked up in the school."

"Yeah, that was pretty lame." Lara added, a little bit embarrassed by that fact.

"Well, trust me, it was crazy." Zeph said with an 'oh you have absolutely no idea' tone. "We couldn't tell if any of us were the real deal or if it was the Sleeper."

"Exactly." Jodi acknowledged, leading to her next point. "That's why I reverse engineered these."

When the ferret held up a small cylinder test tube with something bright blue glowing inside, the group looked at it. They were amazed, but all of them wondered the same thing…

"What on Mobius is that?" Argul blurted out, raising one of his eyebrows in confusion at the strange thing.

"They're anti-mech." Jodi answered.

Couple members of the group tilted their heads in confusion. "…huh?"

"Gazuntite." Zephyr chuckled.

Gale facepalmed herself at her comrade's comment. "Oh Zeph."

Nikki turned to her sister, giving her reassurance. "So, that's the anti-mech huh? How do they work?"

Gaining confidence from Nikki, Jodi answered. "Oh yes, well, they normally act kind of like white blood cells. They attack foreign metal or substances that can harm a host."

"Say what now?" Lucky asked confusingly, obviously wasn't paying attention to the whole thing.

"Sorry, ignore him." Lara quickly muttered as she shook head. The female echidna then asked. "So, how will these anti-mech help us out?"

"Yeah, we saw what happened to Gyro with those things." Zephyr pointed out, also pointing to the comrade he had referred to.

"Yeah, lets not talk about that if you please." Gyro subtly pleaded. "I really don't want to relive that experience, thank you."

"Well, I actually toned the anti-mech's aggressive system down quite a bit." Jodi reassured. "Pretty much, all they do is glow, like you see here. But here's the thing, it doesn't react at all with metal, so a robot can't duplicate it. It's because of this, that I was able to use these to figure out a way to tell us apart from the Sleepers."

"How is that?" Crash asked curiously.

"Well, it's actually easier to show you than to tell you. I'll need a volunteer." The ferret hinted the request sheepishly.

The group looked at one another, seeing if anyone would jump in, but not wanting to try out the experimental anti-mech themselves.

After a short moment, Nikki stepped forward. "Alright, sign me up."

All the members of the Genesis Freedom Fighters shot the blue hedgehog a slightly shocked look.

Nikki walked up to Jodi as she continued. "I trust ya Sis. If you think this'll help us out, I'm all in."

Naturally being skeptical, Jade raised one of her eyebrows. "You're serious?"

Nikki shot back, but not with hostility. "Hey, you didn't chase that thing around for an hour and play the guessing game."

"She's got a point." Zephyr admitted. "That was nuts. I nearly got my head shot off because we couldn't tell who was who."

"I apologized for that." Tails reminded.

Zephyr turned his back, crossing his arms. "Yeah, but still, it freaked me out."

"Awe, poor birdie got a widdle scared." The Oce-bat teased.

But the hawk glared at her and shot back. "Shut it, Jade."

"Guys, come on, knock it off." Nikki interjected from where she stood, she then returned her attention to Jodi. "Okay Sis, ready when you are."

"Alright, hold out your hand."

The blue hedgehog did as she requested, taking off her glove on her left hand and held out her open palm. Jodi took the vial and gently poured a drop of its contents onto Nikki's hand. The glowing substance almost looked like liquid mercury, it then soaked into her hand, disappearing. It didn't hurt at all, it was harmless like water absorbing into the skin.

The hedgehog looked curiously at the palm of her hand, she then raised one of her eyebrow's in confusion. "Um…Nothing happened, Sis."

"Oh no, it'll work, you have to think about it. Focus on your left hand."

"Oh…kay…" She then focused on her hand. Suddenly, the anti-mech liquid began to form a pattern on her skin. It formed a circle, with a small line on the bottom running from a small bit toward the center of the circle, to a little bit below the circle. It set into her hand, the mark then stayed there in that shape, glowing brightly.

The hedgehog was mesmerized by the glow for a moment. "Whoa…hehe, awesome."

The Dark Chao on her shoulder mirrored her expression and piped in amazement.

"And it disappears just as easily." Jodi added.

"Really?" Nikki focused on the mark disappearing and it did as she requested, fading completely as if it was never there. She then focused on her hand once again and it glowed bright blue once again. "This is way past cool, Sis."

The ferret blushed. "Hehe…thanks Nikki."

"So, now if one of those things tries to copy her…it won't be able to copy that mark?" Lara asked.

"Exactly." Jodi answered.

"Genius."

Surprised by Tails' opinion, Jodi turned to him. "Y-you really think so?"

"Definitely." The fox said with a smile. He then thought out loud. "Kinda wondering why I didn't come up with something like that myself."

Knuckles began to a laugh a little at Tails' comment. "Pfft, probably because you were a walking sleepless zombie for the past few days."

"Touche." Tails admitted.

"Now, you're certain this is safe, right?" Spectra asked.

"Yes, completely." Jodi reassured. "It's not toxic at all and is completely placid. It's about as harmless as a glow in the dark sticker."

Argul couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Pfft, I like that term for it."

Thinking about what happened to his comrade, Zeph spoke up. "Wait, so what about Gyro? Can he use it?"

Gyro gave an 'are you kidding me' laugh. "Haha, no." He then looked to the ferret. "Sorry Jodi, I do trust you, but-"

Understanding the Nanitian's reasons for his refusal, Jodi interrupted him. "Oh no, I understand, trust me."

"Yeah, no worries Gyro, I'm sure we can figure something else out for you." Tails reassured.

"I'm not worried." The lynx said confidently.

"Alright so, who's next."

* * *

By a few moments later, everyone in the group except Gyro had their own anti-mech mark. Dark even agreed to it, considering how many times he was mistaken for an Exus Dusk, it was a great idea. Since the anti-mech was only skin deep, it didn't have an effect on the metallic-like dark skeletal structure in his system, which was a good thing.

Zephyr turned to the short meerkat that was looking curiously at his glowing hand and grabbed him in a playful head lock. "Hey, look at that Crash. Now you have a nightlight to keep the Boogyman away."

"Come on Zeph! Knock it off!" Crash retaliated trying to break free from his much taller comrade.

"Mother of Mobius." Knuckles muttered to himself.

"So, now what?" Nikki asked.

Tails turned to her and answered. "Well, there's still a lot to be done before we get this place running."

"We'll go out and get some supplies. I know just the place." The hawk then turned to his comrade. "You ready, Gale?"

"Yeah." Gale said with a smile.

Zephyr nodded. "Great, lets go then."

Tails looked to them as they started running. "Be careful you two."

"We will." Gale shouted back as they jumped on their Extreme Gear on the other side of the hanger door.

After regaining his breath from the headlock, Crash noticed Zephyr and Gale leaving. "Hey! Wait, what about-" But they had already taken off. "…me."

Gyro looked to Tails. "Jodi and I can work on the system mainframe and the simulator."

"Good idea." Tails replied. "Once we get the computer running here, that may be more help to us in getting things running in here."

"Like the ventilation system." Stealth pointed out.

Tails let out an exhausted sigh and placed his hand over his eyes. "Especially that."

"I can get some parts if you need guys need any." Nikki volunteered.

Both Knuckles and Stealth looked at each other, while Tails peeked through the spacing between his fingers. He didn't think that Nikki would volunteer to go back out there so soon, but of course she would, he should've known better by now.

He allowed his hand to drop to his side as he asked her, "You're going off on your own?"

The blue hedgehog raised her eyebrow and gave him a confusing look. She then showed Tails her hand as she answered, "Well yeah, we have these now, so we don't have worry about any fakers."

Tails still wasn't so sure about her going back out there. He knew she didn't get much sleep the past few days. She really should rest before going out and salvaging supplies in armed bases. "Yes, but that's not what I mean-"

"I'll go with her."

The group looked to Dark, this was the first time the midnight hedgehog had said anything that morning, so it surprised them a little.

With this, Nikki reassured her guardian. "There see, Dark's coming with me. I'll be fine."

The twin tailed fox closed his eyes for a second, as if to debate on whether or not he should let her go. The truth was, there was nothing he could do anyway, she would just sneak out anyway if he tried. He gave her a smile, but there was still a hint of worry as he said, "Well…alright. Just take it easy."

"Guys, I'm fine really." Nikki laughed, she just couldn't get what they were so worried about.

She then looked over and saw her meerkat comrade. "Crash, you wanna come with us?"

Dark raised one of his eyebrows, as if he wanted to believe he heard that wrong. "What?"

The meerkat's ears perked up and he smiled. "Y-yeah, sure."

The midnight hedgehog shook his head back and forth, he then muttered with sarcasm. "…outstanding."

"Oh, come on Dark, relax." She then turned to her family and friends and gave them a salute before dashing out of the hanger. "Catch you guys later."

"Hey, wait up!" Crash shouted back as he ran to the exit. "I still gotta get my gear!"

The blue hedgehog's voice yelled back from down the tunnel. "Well hurry up! I'm waiting!"

Tails laughed at that last remark, it reminded him so much of his friend. But he also remembered something else as well and it worried him.

Suddenly, Knuckles snapped the twin-tailed fox out of his thoughts when he whispered. "She looks tired to you too, right?"

"Well, she hasn't been getting much sleep lately…heh, I really shouldn't be talking." Tails admitted.

"You got that right." Stealth agreed, he then tried to reassure his friend. "I wouldn't worry too much. Dark and Nikki are a pretty good team. Whatever they run into, ragged or not, they can handle it."

"Hope you're right, Stealth." But something still weighed heavy in the back of Tails' mind.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

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"Time to take a break, Bro."

The teenage kitsune stopped and made a b-line back to his blue-furred friend, who had stopped and leaned his back against a tree.

His eyes widened with concern, this wasn't like Sonic at all. "Huh, you're tired?! You gotta be kidding, you're not sick or anything are you?"

The blue hedgehog raised one of his eyebrows then laughed. "Tails, I'm fine. You don't need to be jumpy. I was just talking about you."

"…oh." Tails was a little bit embarrassed. Of course Sonic was fine, it was _him_ that was exhausted. But still, he stood tall and looked to his older brother with bold sapphire eyes. "Well, I'm fine really."

Sonic knew what his younger brother was doing, but even he could see that Tails was getting tired. "When you wear yourself out too much, you make mistakes. Trust me, it's the same for everyone, even me. You have to have a balance, you don't want to work yourself too hard."

Realizing his brother had a point, Tails scratched the back of his head. "Heh heh, yeah guess you're right. I mean, staying up late working on the X Tornado is one thing, but something like this…I mess up, I'm-"

Sonic raised his hand to interrupt Tails, already having the image of Tails crashing into a tree or something at the speed of light in mind, but shuddered at the thought of actually hearing it. "Yeah…was trying not to think about that."

"Sorry."

The blue hedgehog then placed his hand on top of the teenage fox's head, messing up his hair. "Hey, don't sweat it, Bro. You'll be able to fly at the speed of light soon enough, but you can't do that if you pass out every time you get close because you don't take a break."

The fox looked up at him, one of his brows raised and he held back a laugh. "Is that why you always take so many naps? So that y-don't get worn out?"

Tails' question caught the blue hedgehog off guard for a moment. He should've saw it coming though, that fox was too clever. He tried to cover his surprised look and laughed a little as he rubbed his nose. "Uh, sure, lets go with that."

* * *

**_Flashback End_**

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_When you wear yourself out too much…you make mistakes…_

The twin-tailed fox looked toward the hanger door.

_I have faith in you Nikki…but still…please be careful._

* * *

Two comets blazed across the barren landscape, their gold and blue glow brightened the shadows casted from the never-ending clouds above. Having reached their destination, the golden light slowed to a stop, slighting hovering to a stop and landing gracefully on the ground. The shimmering blue light slowed as well, the indigo hedgehog sliding to a stop and kicking up a little dirt and dust.

"Well, here we are again." The blue hedgehog said as she walked up to the door of the abandoned complex. She then looked to her midnight comrade. "Um, you remember where we last left off in here, right? Before Gale and Zephyr called us yesterday?"

"We were on our way to sector 5."

"And how many sectors did Dr. Phoenix say we had to get through…10 was it?" The blue hedgehog was trying desperately to remember, but her tired mind wasn't processing the thought that she was trying to remember.

Luckily for her, Dark didn't have this problem. "Sector 22."

The female hedgehog blinked at that answer. "Seriously?"

Seeing her midnight companion nod, she facepalmed herself. "Ugh, man. I thought we were closer than that."

She then looked to him as she continued. "I mean seriously, are you sure there's no other way in than right here?"

"Phoenix was positive. He said the whole G.U.N. Medical Department went into lockdown the day the Exus attacked it…" Dark walked up and touched the door, trying to sense any other way in. "…and I can't sense anything through this black metal. It's like the door of the Genesis base."

The female hedgehog sighed. "Okay…so we just have to keep doing this the hard way then."

Seeing the midnight hedgehog turn around and cross his arms, Nikki shot him a slightly confused look. "What?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

At that moment, one of Nikki's ears flicked backward. She looked over her shoulder and saw her other comrade, Crash, flying in on his Extreme Gear.

Though he didn't run into anything this time, the meerkat lost his footing and stumbled a little as he jumped off and tried to catch himself. "Whoa! Heh, heh, I'm okay!"

"…oh." Nikki had almost forgotten that she had invited Crash to come with them. _Yeah…there is that._

* * *

It didn't take very long for Dark to re-open the door and the small group entered the abandoned base. Both the hedgehogs were more than used to raiding bases by now, it was second nature to them. And this base should've been easier, since the duo had already cleared all the way to the 5th Sector. However, as Dark had mentioned, they had to get to the 22nd sector, miles beneath the facility with traps, large doors, and barriers blocking their path. This wasn't going to be easy for the two of them…let alone having a ten year old meerkat tagging along.

Seeing her young comrade shaking a little as they walked through the dark corridors, Nikki turned to him reassuringly. "Crash, calm down. Dark and I checked this place out yesterday, it's fine."

"Wha-What if something came in here after you guys left?"

Dark shook his head. _Unbelievable._

Nikki looked to him and thought for him to hear. _Come on Dark, he's just a little scared that's all._

The midnight hedgehog gave her a look. _Then what is he doing on a mission with us? If he's like this, we should've left him back at Genesis._

_You saw how disappointed he was when everyone else left, would you have liked it if everyone left you behind? And besides, I trust his instincts. More than half the time, he's right. He's sensitive to his surroundings._

Dark scoffed._ Cowardly is more like it._

_Knock it off._

"Uh guys?" Both hedgehogs looked to Crash, who gave them a slightly worried look as he asked, "You guys okay? You're giving each other weird looks."

Nikki quickly spoke first. "What? Pfft no, we're fine Crash."

"Oh, okay then." The meerkat nodded giving them a smile, then leaned against the wall behind him. "Y-know, this place isn't really that bad once you-"

Suddenly, the wall gave in and he fell backward. "Wha?!"

"Crash!" Nikki quickly dashed forward and grabbed the meerkat before he fell. She looked at him, pretty much half expecting something like this to happen, given this was Crash after all, but still had to ask, "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, I think so…Thanks", the shaken meerkat answered, he then looked over his shoulder. Just behind him was a deep, slanted pit. It was like a trap door turned into a chute, it looked like someone could slide down it. To what exactly?...he wasn't sure. Nikki pulled him back away from the hole, getting him to solid ground. But the meerkat was still curious. "Hey, where do you think that goes?"

"Sure you wanna find out?" Dark muttered.

"Yeah, sure I do…but, it's really d-dark down there."

Nikki looked to the meerkat. "It's probably just a trap, Crash."

"But…if it's a trap, then why would they put a trap door in just this part of the wall like that? It makes no sense. I mean, all the traps I've ran into were on the floor, jutting from the side of the wall, something crashing down from the ceiling-"

Not wanting to hear the annoying meerkat carry on anymore, Dark interrupted. "Okay we get it, you're an expert at setting off traps, why is this one any different?"

"I don't know, I just have a feeling, okay?"

Just then, Nikki leaned in over the pit. She tried to focus down there, but she really couldn't see anything. But she did understand what Crash was talking about. There was something…different about this. "Dark, come over here a sec."

The midnight hedgehog walked over and also leaned in over Nikki's shoulder.

She then asked him in thought. _Think you can scan it?_

On cue, Dark's irises glowed bright red for a second and he focused on the steep pathway. His eyes widened slightly at what he saw. "It's not a trap. It's an escape hatch."

Nikki's eyes widened. "What?"

"It seems to use some kind of energy up here from below to this spot to get civilians out to the exits. This one is out of order, the power no longer works to send someone up the chute."

"But it can still work for us going down…" Nikki looked to her midnight comrade excited. "Like a shortcut."

The midnight hedgehog gave her a nod, agreeing with her.

The female hedgehog looked back at the meerkat and gave him a thumbs up. "Good call Crash."

Crash raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. "Wait, so this is a good thing?"

"Uh yes." Nikki answered.

The meerkat blinked then excitedly cheered. "Yes!"

"I'll go down first." The midnight hedgehog volunteered. "I can hover if there's a problem."

Nikki nodded. "Okay, just call me if something's up."

Dark returned her nod with one of his own and jumped into the chute feet first, leaving his two other comrades standing by at the edge of the tunnel entrance.

The young meerkat looked to the female hedgehog beside him. "Y-you think that was a good idea Y-know, just jumping in like that?"

Nikki reassured him, "Eh, we do this kind of stuff all the time. Don't worry."

Suddenly, Nikki heard…

_It's clear._

She thought for her midnight comrade to hear_…Okay, we're coming down._

She then said out loud. "Huh, that was fast."

"What was fast?" The meerkat asked confused.

"Oh right, Dark says it's safe." The hedgehog dives into the chute feet first, shouting back to the meerkat before she got too far away. "Hurry Crash!"

The young meerkat looked down the dark tunnel and watched as his friend disappeared. "Y-gotta be kidding me."

He then took a deep breath. _I can't __believe__ I'm about to do this. _

Suddenly he heard a faint voice from inside the chute. He knew who it was, and though they were yelling, he barely heard it echo off the walls in the tunnel…which meant that it was a long way down…maybe long was too subtle a word. "Hey Crash, watcha waiting for?!"

Crash began to shake a little, _Man…I'm not sure if I can do this…I-it's a long way down. B-but I gotta, I mean, I don't wanna be up here by myself. _

The young meerkat gulped._ Okay…you can do this…just…_

He then suddenly leaped in, screaming on the way down.

Meanwhile, at the bottom, a female hedgehog was getting a little worried about her younger comrade. "Maybe I shoulda let him jump down first."

"Pfft, you should've pushed him down first." The midnight hedgehog muttered.

Just before Nikki shot back a counter remark, they both heard a yell echoing from the chute.

"AHHHHH!"

The young meerkat flew out of the chute and Nikki cringed a little as he hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Oof!"

"Uh, you okay Crash?" The female hedgehog asked raising an eyebrow slightly awkwardly.

Blowing his hair out of his face, Crash answered, though still breathing heavily from the rush. "Y-yeah."

Hearing that her comrade was fine, she then smiled and kneeled next to him. "Hey, that took guts, nice work."

"Heh, yeah sure…wish I had a better landing though." The meerkat added sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"We should keep moving." The midnight hedgehog interrupted, scanning the area. "We're in Sector 20 now, we're close."

"Sector 20?" Realizing that they were only two sectors away from their destination now, Nikki was excited. She gained a burst of energy and dashed ahead. "Well, what are we waiting for, lets go."

"And there she goes." Dark muttered.

Crash smiled at Dark's comment. "Yep, that's our Nikki."

Suddenly, the blue hedgehog dashed back, giving an awkward laugh. "Heh, heh, sorry…left you guys in the dust, didn't I?"

"Walking would be the best option anyway." Dark proposed. "We haven't explored this area yet."

"Yeah, and you can't scan easily down here either." Nikki thought out loud.

"Scan? What does that mean?" Crash asked confused.

"What does it sound like?" Dark retorted.

Not many of the Freedom Fighters actually knew what Dark really was. So far, it was only Tails, Nikki, Knuckles had his suspicions, and of course Charles knew of Dark's origin as well, having tended to his injuries. The rest of the new generation Freedom Fighters however, were still left in the dark about the mysterious midnight hedgehog being an android…and that same mysterious hedgehog wanted to keep it that way for now.

Before it could get out of hand, Nikki stepped in and answered. "Crash, Dark is psychic remember? He can read minds and see through walls and stuff."

"Oh. I get it." The young meerkat said cheerfully. He then looked around the corridor as the small group walked on ahead. "So…what are we down here for anyway? You said something about a Medical Department or something?"

"We're looking for a possible lead for rare medical supplies." The midnight hedgehog answered as he tried to scan around the corner.

"Yeah, Dr. Phoenix was the one that told us about this place. We're hoping to find a few things that can help some people out." Nikki added, not giving away too much information about why they were really there. Phoenix had contacted Nikki on a possible lead, that much is true. However, this lead could make a major difference in not only helping others, but possibly helping Jodi as well.

"Ah, okay." Crash nodded.

Nikki then turned to Dark ahead of her and asked, "Sensing anything strange, Dark?"

"Strange yes." The midnight hedgehog answered. "Strange that I'm sensing absolutely nothing."

"Huh, that is strange." The female hedgehog agreed. "Through the first five sectors, we ran into traps at every turn…it's too quiet down here."

"Yeah…I was th-thinking the same thing." The meerkat stuttered.

A thought came to Nikki's head and her eyes widened as she asked Dark, "You don't think someone beat us here already, do you?"

"With the first sectors still on high alert?...I doubt it." The midnight hedgehog reassured as he continued scanning ahead. "More than likely, it's someone that was left behind here before the place went into lockdown."

"Someone left here?..." Nikki looked around her surroundings. The area they were in was only dimly lit, certainly looked too dismal for anyone to be expected to live down here. "For 14 years?...That sounds a bit extreme don't you think?"

"Being left here that long, they might not be around anymore." Dark answered.

Nikki nodded in agreement. "I see what you mean…this place doesn't look like it's been kept up for years."

"We're coming to Sector 21 now."

Nikki shot her midnight comrade a surprised look. "Already?"

"Heh, that was easy." Crash said with a thankful laugh.

"Too easy." Dark muttered, still scanning ahead for any signs of life or motion.

The female hedgehog nodded, still looking around her. "I agree, the first 5 sectors were well…exciting…this is a walk, literally."

"Which kind of freaks me out." The meerkat added, now starting to get nervous once again. "Because exciting for you is usually insane for me."

Nikki shrugged, "Heh, tomato-tamatto, but yeah, touché."

The midnight hedgehog stopped his two comrades from advancing any further. He peeked around the corner and scanned ahead. The opening for Sector 21 was just at the other end of the hall.

"You see something? Like a trap?" Nikki asked.

"No, but there might be one in that room passed the hall." Dark answered. He then glanced back to her over his shoulder. "I'll take a look and call you when it's safe."

The female hedgehog nodded, she knew that if Dark had a suspicion about something in places like this, it was better to play it safe and stay back, especially with a kid undertow.

The midnight hedgehog made his way down the hall to the entrance. The door was wide open, so he could scan it all and get a clear view of the room. It was massive, almost like a hanger, but since they were deep underground, that wasn't very likely that that was what it was used for. The room was almost completely empty, there were other doors leading to different rooms as well as more on the second and third floor.

From what he could scan, Dark couldn't see anything that would be harmful to his comrades…but there was also the fact that it was difficult to scan passed the walls of the complex. There was no telling if there was anything hiding in the other rooms.

The midnight hedgehog stepped out into the open, glancing around him. He waited a moment, taking in everything using his senses. He then nodded to his comrades down the hall, telling them that it was clear.

Seeing him nod, the other two mobians started walking down the hall to meet him. But just as they were halfway down the hall, the door swiftly raised up from the floor and slammed shut right behind Dark…locking him outside in the room and his two comrades in the hallway.

All three of them were shocked, but both hedgehogs shook it off faster than their younger comrade, who was freaking out.

"Oh Chaos!"

"Crash, it's alright." The hedgehog reassured him, though keeping her guard up herself in case something else was coming next. "Dark probably tripped something that's all. He'll figure out how to-"

Before she could finish, a slight shiver ran down her spine. She recognized this and swiftly grabbed the young meerkat and pulled him behind her. "Get back!"

Right at that moment, a shimmering black blur dashed right by them. Nikki could feel the white heat coming from what she guessed was a blade as it barely missed her face when she dodged. Her eyes widened, she never expected that to be so close, nor did she expect that the attacker would come at them so fast.

Taking the defensive once her opponent passed her, the female hedgehog quickly extended her spikes on her arms, placing herself between Crash and the threat.

The attacker didn't stop, but slowed down on it's turn enough for her to see what she was dealing with. It was an Exus robot, there was no doubt about that, but there was something different about this one. It was a new model, or at least one that neither Dark nor Nikki had seen before. It was sleek, like the Exus Dusk model, but was also thinner and almost looked chameleon like. It's bright red eyes glared at her as it quickened it's pace toward her once again.

The heroic hedgehog's eyebrows creased forward. "Just stay behind me, Crash."

The meerkat nodded shakily, but didn't have enough time to finish his sentence as Nikki swiftly pulled the young meerkat out of the way as the wicked ninja bot sped by. "Y-yeah- Whoa!"

The female hedgehog was surprised. _Wow, it's fast…I barely saw it that time._

Nikki was dodging, but every movement looked like it was too close for comfort. There were moments where the robot barely missed her, she could see small strands of her hair and fur getting grazed off.

"Come on Nikki- Gah! Can we not mess around with these guys for once?"

"I'm not, this guy's actually-" That time, the robot interrupted her, nearly slashing at her neck, but she moved just in time, the blade grazing her spikes instead. "Whoa! Too close."

Meanwhile, Dark was trying to break down the door, but it was made out of the same strong, black-metal alloy that the rest of the base was made of. He tried using Chaos Spear first, but the door didn't even budge. Hearing Nikki's yell from the other side, he quickly changed tactic, spinning and ramming into the door repeatedly. Each time he bounced off, he spun away further using the huge space he had to his advantage and rammed into it again increasing in speed and power each time, hitting the same spot.

Nikki quickly saw that this was a dangerous situation for Crash to be in. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up for. Catching a glimpse of another door around the corner they came in, she still kept her attention on the slashing robot in front of her, but addressed her young comrade behind her. "Crash, you gotta go. There's a door back where we came."

She continued as she dodged another attack. "Dark and I will come back for you when it's safe."

"But Nikki what about-" The poor meerkat was interrupted fearfully by a close call with one of the robot's sharp claws. "Yikes!"

"Just go!" The female hedgehog yelled. "I got this, but I need to know you're safe first! Go now!"

Despite being insanely scared and shaking in his fur, the young meerkat didn't want to leave Nikki behind. He knew she was in serious trouble here, this robot was too fast for her. The thought made him sick to just leave and have something terrible happen to her.

Crash closed his eyes and turned on his heels and bolted for the room that Nikki point out. He then quickly ran in and closed the door behind him.

Nikki saw the door close. _Good Crash…Now I can kick this up a notch._

Suddenly, Nikki fought back, kicking and spinning furiously and countering the robot's every move. She gave one swift kick, slamming the robot into the far door at the end of the hall. The robot seemed to shoot the hedgehog a shocked look at this sudden rush of speed and strength.

Seeing the robot's reaction, the confident hedgehog gave it a smirk. "That's right pal, all bets are off now."

With that remark, the robot pushed off of the door, rushing at the hedgehog at incredible speed.

Nikki started using the hallway to her advantage, bouncing off the walls to make her attacks harder for the enemy to predict.

But despite this, when Nikki came in for an attack, the robot knew exactly where she was and counter attacked. The spinning hedgehog was lucky and missed what would've been a fatal blow, but she was thrown off course back down the hall passed the turn where they came in, painfully hitting the wall at the edge of the stairs.

The heroic hedgehog tried to shake it off, but before she could move, she saw the robot rushing in at her.

Suddenly however, the robot tripped and slammed into the floor with incredible force, causing it to slide on the floor with a loud screech to a stop a few feet away from the hedgehog.

Nikki had no idea what suddenly caused the robot to take a nose dive and was completely and utterly confused by it. "…huh?"

She then looked up and saw a familiar figure at the end of the hall. It was Crash, holding onto one end of a bed sheet that was wrapped around the robot's legs. Nikki was able to put it all together and figured out it was Crash that caused the robot to trip by throwing the bed sheet he got from that room into the hallway at the right moment to collide with it's path. The robot was so focused on her and was moving so fast that it didn't even notice until it was too late.

The meerkat's ears perked up and he cheered when he saw his plan worked. "Yes!"

His eyes suddenly widened when he saw Nikki. "Nikki!, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." The female hedgehog laughed. She then gave him a thumbs up and a wink. "Nice work, Crash. You really saved my tail."

"Heh, heh." The meerkat couldn't help but blush.

However, they didn't have time to celebrate long as at that moment, the robot tried to pick itself off the floor, shooting a vicious glare at the young meerkat.

Crash's eyes widened and he froze.

Nikki knew the robot would try and attack Crash, but she also knew that it's legs were still tangled in the fabric of the sheets. Before the robot could make it's move, the female hedgehog dashed forward, grabbing the end of the sheet that wasn't tied to the robot and using her swift speed and reflexes, spun and threw the robot toward the stairs. She then stood defiantly in front of her young comrade, staring the robot down as it growled furiously at her.

The sinister robot tore itself free from it's binds and dashed toward them.

Crash cringed behind his friend, thinking that this was it.

But the brave hedgehog stood her ground, only readjusting her footing to prepare to intercept the attack.

Suddenly, the two heard a loud clang and only a half a second later, a golden flash sped right passed them. Nikki knew who it was, she wasn't worried in the slightest. The next thing she heard however, was what made her gasp. Dark had blocked the attack using his metallic hand and it did work. The robot's blade became stuck and it was struggling to free itself, but the strong midnight hedgehog was holding his ground. Despite the force that robot was giving in that split second to break free, Dark didn't even budge.

"Holy Chaos on Mobius?!" Crash shouted, freaking out.

Unfazed and seeing that the robot was about to slash at him with it's other bladed hand, the midnight hedgehog took his own free hand and grabbed the robot's face.

He then muttered. "Chaos Spear."

The two bystanders heard a loud lightning crash and a bright light nearly blinded them in the formerly dimly lit hall. They shielded their eyes, but could hear the clashing between their comrade and the robot.

Knowing that the fight was still going on between the two, Nikki pulled Crash back down the hall in the opposite direction and gently pushed him into the room.

Crash of course, tripped and fell to the floor. "Oof!"

His female comrade gave a slightly sympathetic glance. "Sorry." She then quickly returned her attention to the cloud of dust in front of her.

All Nikki could see was flashes of metal clashing metal while her eyes tried to adjust from the first burst of light, the dust it kicked up not helping much either. She wanted to rush in and help Dark, but she couldn't even tell who was who in the chaos. But she did see something that made her spikes stand on end…a black figure being hurled right at her.

Nikki's eyes widened and she pressed her back up against the wall. "Whoa!"

As the black figure hit the ground where she stood before, she heard the painful sound of metal grinding against metal. She did a double take and tried to get a better look as the black rag doll slammed into the end of the hall. She breathed a huge sigh of relief when her eyes finally focused and she recognized the mangled mess as the strange Exus bot.

_Thank Chaos._

She then turned to look behind her as the dust began to settle. The midnight hedgehog was at the foot of the stairs at the end of the hall, picking himself up off the ground to a sitting position.

Nikki quickly ran toward him and knelt at his side. "Dark, you okay?"

"I think so."

With that answer, Nikki knew how close a call that must've been for him. For Dark to actually second guess if he was fine, mean't that that fight must've been a struggle. So it wasn't just Nikki at all, that robot was lightning fast, much faster than any robot that either of them had ever faced before.

The midnight hedgehog then turned to her, his crimson eyes nearly glowing in the dim lights. "you?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Nikki smiled.

"Don't worry about me, I'm okay over here!"

The two barely got a chance to glance at their comrade when the meerkat tripped on something, it was most likely a broken part from the now pile of junk that was laying lifeless in the opposite corner.

The young meerkat opened his eyes to recover from the fall when he saw something right in front of his face that made him jump clean out of his fur, forcing him to back pedal. "Gah! Wh-wh-wh-!"

The midnight hedgehog rolled his eyes, annoyed at the young meerkat's antics. "What is he freaking out about now?"

Suddenly, Dark felt a sharp pain in his right wrist. He cringed only slightly, but it was certainly enough to get both hedgehogs' attention. The midnight hedgehog lifted his arm to take a look and both Nikki and Dark were shocked at what they saw. The two looked to each other, but then cringed as they heard Crash yell again.

"Wha! Haha! Wha-What the hell man!"

"Crash, shut up." Dark muttered.

The poor meerkat was freaking out, his voice cracked as he screamed. "Bu-but dude, you're hand!"

"I know, just shut up."

As Dark was getting irritated by Crash's yelling, he thought about balling his hand into a fist…well, that right hand that was lying in front of Crash at that moment obeyed Dark's request and balled into a fist right in front of him.

The meerkat gulped and froze for a second. His fur then stood straight up and if he wasn't freaking out before, he was definitely freaked out now. " GAH! HAHA!" He then fell back and fainted.

The two hedgehogs blinked.

Dark gave a slight smirk. "Not how I would've shut him up, but that works."

"Dark."

Seeing his female comrade give him a look, the midnight hedgehog shrugged. "What?"

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**Oh boy, looks like Dark's cat is out of the bag sort of speak ^^;

What will Crash think of Dark once he finds out what he really is? What will the rest of the group think if they ever found out? More will be revealed int he coming chapters of Sonic's Legacy :D

For update info, check profile.


	2. Chapter 45: Truth Part 1

Hi everyone ^^;

Sorry this chapter took so long. This was actually the longest delay between chapters I've had to tell you the truth. I do have my reasons, but I'm not sharing them here.

Anyway, this chapter was supposed to be a lot longer than this, but I figured since I haven't uploaded in so long that I would just split the chapter. ^^;

I won't keep you guys any longer, enjoy :D

* * *

_**Chapter 45: Trust; Part 1**_

* * *

**Narrator: None, third person format**

The midnight hedgehog tested his 'patched up' wrist. "There, that should work for now."

The female hedgehog next to him looked at her comrade's wrist. Her look was nothing short of forced confidence with an awkward grin, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah…I still think you should have Tails look at it when we get back."

Dark shrugged. "I'm supposed to check in with Professor Charles anyway."

Nikki couldn't help but give him a look and nearly laughed with sarcasm. "Ha, oh yeah he's going to get a riot out of this."

Her ear flicked when she heard her young meerkat comrade that laid on the ground passed out nearby started to stir. "Oh, I think he's waking up."

"Well…that didn't last long." The midnight hedgehog muttered in an unimpressed tone.

The blue hedgehog looked to Dark and thought for him to hear. _Just don't mention anything, maybe he'll think he imagined it or something._

The young meerkat opened his eyes slowly. Seeing the midnight hedgehog and remembering what he saw earlier, his eyes widened and he screamed.

The source of his terror simply looked to his female comrade with an unimpressed expression. _So much for that._

"Y-you're a robot?!" The frightened meerkat stuttered.

Nikki tried to calmly reassure the kid. "Crash, calm down."

But Crash snapped and shouted back at her. "Don't tell me to calm down!"

The midnight hedgehog rolled his eyes and sighed annoyed. _And this is why this was supposed to stay a secret._

Nikki's attention turned back to Dark with an unimpressed expression. _This coming from the guy showing off._

The midnight hedgehog rolled his eyes at her thought._ Like I actually mean't to do that._

His female comrade returned with a raised eyebrow and knowing smile._ But you so would have if you did know, don't deny it._

Dark couldn't find a response to that one, he knew Nikki was right about that.

Nikki nearly laughed out loud._ That's what I thought._

Meanwhile, Crash was trying to put this all together in his head. "So wait, if you're a robot and you look like Dark then…"

Suddenly, with the conclusion he came to in his mind, his fur stood completely on end and he yelled. "SLEEPER!"

Nikki couldn't help but facepalm herself. "Oh Chaos… Crash, he's not a sleeper-"

"H-How do you know?" The meerkat stuttered. "He was locked out on the other side of that door, did you even think that maybe he might be?"

"Well…no…" Nikki was slightly surprised by Crash's reasoning. She hadn't thought about that possibility at all and considering those events, that could have been the case. However, Nikki knew that this Dark was the real deal. She didn't quite understand why, but something inside her told her that this was him. Nikki quickly shook it off before finishing her answer. "But I _do_ know."

But Crash being as cautious as he was and not to mention still a little freaked out, he didn't take Nikki's word at face value. "Prove it!"

Finally, Dark had had enough. "Oh for the love of-"

The midnight hedgehog opened up his left hand and a bright, light blue glowing mark appeared. He then showed it to the meerkat, holding back a frustrated and annoyed tone…or at least trying to. "There, happy now panophobiac?"

Still nervous, but now believing that both hedgehogs were telling the truth, the meerkat nodded. "uh…uh-huh."

The midnight hedgehog then turned around, exhaling a breath as if to release the tension he had held in. He then checked his wrist again, making sure his repair job hadn't come loose.

"How-how long have you been a robot?"

Nikki mentally face-palmed herself at Crash's question. Sure the meerkat was curious sometimes, but this curiosity…might get him in trouble.

Hearing Crash's question, Dark glared over his shoulder, raising one of his eyebrows. "What kind of stupid question is that?"

"Okay…" After seeing Dark's reaction, the meerkat took a few steps back.

Nikki breathed a sigh of relief and was about to suggest that they continue when…

"But seriously, you were a robot the whole ti-?"

"Android" Dark interrupted.

The female blue hedgehog's eyes widened, _Crash, just let it go already?_

"What?"

"Not a robot, android. There is a difference." The midnight hedgehog elaborated.

The young meerkat tilted and scratched his head in confusion. "Really? There's a difference?"

"Oh Chaos, okay-" Nikki finally interrupted and stepped between the two. "Look Crash, I know it's confusing and you have a lot of questions here. But you trust me right?"

"Well yeah, of course I do." Crash answered.

She then motioned to Dark. "Then you can trust him."

"Oh, I know that." Crash said with a smile.

Confused by this, Nikki blinked and her eyes widened. "You do?"

"Yeah, I mean I just didn't know that Dark was android is all, I don't have anything against that. I thought he was a Sleeper…" The meerkat then gave them an apologetic look. "Sorry I freaked out."

Seeing both of the hedgehogs shoot a look toward each other, Crash added. "Why? Don't the others know about this?"

Nikki answered him, but wasn't too keen on it. She avoided showing a nervous look, instead turning her head toward the ceiling and away from the meerkat. "Uh…not everyone."

After a short pause, she then recovered and added. "Look, not many Mobians are as-" She stopped herself and thought out loud. "Wait, no, that's not right."

Nikki shook it off and continued. "Both Tails and Uncle Charlie know. And they both agree with Dark and I that it's a good idea to keep this a secret for now. At least until everyone gets to know Dark better."

She then walked over to Crash and knelt down to his level, she then gave him a smile. "I trust you to keep this a secret as well, can you do that?"

The meerkat looked to Dark, who looked away as soon as their eyes met. Crash then looked to his female comrade in front of him. He understood what Nikki meant when she asked him that. Not only was she trusting him to keep what Dark was a secret from the rest of the group, she was pleading him to as well.

The meerkat gave her a nod. "Yeah, I can do that."

The midnight hedgehog glanced over his shoulder. He wasn't expecting Crash's answer to sound so, well honest. Of course, the meerkat had always been an honest type, well from what he guessed and witnessed, but he would've never guessed that someone that scared so easily would be so open about trusting him after finding out what he really was.

Nikki gave Crash a relieved smile. "Thanks Crash."

She then stood back up and looked to Dark. "Now, we should keep going."

Dark nodded and then led the way back down the hall toward the way they were heading before the Exus robot attacked them.

"So, that robot that attacked us…you guys never ran into one of those before, right?"

Nikki looked behind her and answered Crash's question. "Hmm? Oh yeah, that one was new-well to us anyway."

Crash gave a confused look. "huh?"

The female hedgehog turned around, walking backwards. "Well, it was trapped down here, so it could've been one of the first designs the Exus had if this place was closed down 14 years ago. That guy was probably the reason why there were hardly any traps for us down here."

"Yeah, true." The young meerkat then continued. "I gotta tell you, I was worried when that thing was keeping up with you."

"Heh, yeah. Haven't ran into a robot that was that fast before." Nikki admitted. "Darn Slasher nearly got me a few times there."

"Slasher?" Dark asked.

Nikki turned around and nodded. "Yeah, I figure that would be a good call name for it."

"I agree, that thing was like a G.U.N. switch blade with feet." Dark muttered.

When the group got to the door toward their destination, the two Mobians behind Dark gave simultaneous shocked looks. The door was a mess of twisted metal, some parts of the door looked as though they had been melted with a blow torch.

Nikki tapped Dark on the shoulder, she then gave a smirk and said in a joking manner. "Geez, you know, doors have this new invention, it's called a handle. You should try it sometime."

The midnight hedgehog returned with a smirk of his own, knowing that Nikki was kidding. _Not nearly as much fun._

The members of the group walked through the dismembered doorway one by one.

"Whao," Crash said with a look of surprise as he looked around. "This place is huge. You think it's a hanger or something?"

"Not likely, though it does look like one." Nikki answered as they continued into the room. "We're too deep underground for it to be a hanger."

"I thought the same thing." Dark added. "It may have been a testing facility for some of their war machines. It's certainly big enough."

The female hedgehog looked back and forth. "So, which way from here?"

"Hard to tell." The midnight hedgehog answered, he then looked toward the right stairway. "I am picking up something from that way."

"Well…we should go the other way then." Crash suggested nervously.

"It'll be fine Crash." Nikki reassured as they started walking toward the right side stairs.

Crash hesitated for a moment on the first step of the stairs, frightening thoughts echoed in his mind. What if they ran into another Exus Slasher again? Or what if they ran into something else? He then looked ahead to his two comrades. That was when a new thought came to him. Even though he was scared, there was no need for him to worry. Nikki was there, someone that he knew without a doubt had his back. And despite not knowing a lot about Dark, he was strong and had proved that he could defend them in the event something does happen. Regaining his confidence, the young meerkat took a deep breath and then followed them up the stairs.

The midnight hedgehog leading the way stopped at one of the doors. "We're here."

Nikki stopped in front of the door as well. "This is it?"

Dark nodded in reply.

"Great, so lets get what we came here for and get out of here." The meerkat said with a shiver.

In response to Crash's comment, Dark closed his eyes and shook his head, allowing a sigh to escape him. He then reached toward the door and opened it.

The three walked into the room one by one, looking around and trying to adjust their eyes to the darkness. Suddenly, the lights came on unexpectedly, making each member of the group jump…well, it was either the light or someone's sudden screaming that made the two hedgehogs freeze up anyway.

"Gah-ha!"

Nikki tried to calm the young meerkat down. "Crash relax, that was a back-up. Some of the lights turn on by themselves when you walk in."

"Oh…right." The meerkat blushed with embarrassment. "Just wasn't expecting it."

"Good Chaos." The midnight hedgehog muttered at a barely audible tone, annoyed by meerkat's nearly constant screaming.

The female hedgehog finally took a look at the room from where she stood. It actually didn't look as spectacular as Dr. Pheonix had made it sound. Basic lab tables looked like they were lined up at one time in rows, though many of them were broken and scattered. Note papers littered the ground and Nikki gave a confused look at one that she picked up, looking at it as if it had been written in a strange language.

"Not sure what to make of this" She then looked to Dark. "What do you think?"  
The midnight hedgehog walked up to her and took a look at the note paper, he then shook his head. "Not what we're looking for, but might be useful."

"Kay, you're the expert here." The female hedgehog then folded the piece of paper and placed it in one of her jacket pockets.

Dark looked toward the meerkat behind him. "Split up and search, if you think you find something, let me know."

The midnight hedgehog returned his attention to Nikki, who nodded back. The female hedgehog then walked toward one of the desks. Crash did the same, searching through one of the drawers to one of the desks.

"What should we look for? I mean I know you said to ask you, but how do we know it's important from all this mess?" The meerkat asked as he picked up a strange looking paper.

"It should have Dr. Pheonix's name on it. He also said something about someone named Lance and to look for his research." Nikki answered, looking confused at a paper once again. "What the hell is a transmorpher?"

Dark shakes his head. "Not important, put that back."

"You got it." Nikki sets it to the side and continues searching, she then looks over her shoulder toward Crash. "Find anything yet?"

Crash answered her, but had a confused tone about it. "Nope, I keep finding papers from this guy named Roth."

"Doesn't ring any bells." Dark added as he scanned another desk's remains. "Nothing here."

"You should still take a look at this stuff…" The young meerkat looked at another piece of paper. "…it's kinda creepy."

Rolling his eyes, the midnight hedgehog turned around and scanned the page from where he stood, but as he did, his eyes widened with intrigue. He then walked over to Crash. "Wait, let me see that."

The young meerkat obeyed Dark's request and showed him the paper.

Curious about Dark's own curiosity, Nikki looked toward her two comrades. "What is it, Dark?"

"It's not what we're looking for…but it is interesting."

"Why's that?" The young meerkat asked.

"Because these schematics…look just like the type of weapons the Exus use."

At that, Nikki's eyes widened. "What?"

"So, what does th-that mean?" The meerkat asked nervously. "Were these guys working for them?"

"What?, no I don't think so." The midnight hedgehog examined the page further. "However, we do know that G.U.N. technology was used to make many of the Exus models. They stole most of G.U.N.'s plans for their military weapons."

The midnight hedgehog then hands the page back to Crash. "Better hold onto that." He then walks back over to where he was searching before.

The meerkat looked at the paper, he then placed it in his hat to keep it safe.

Nikki went back to searching as well, using her fast eyes to scan for either the names Lance or Phoenix. She also was looking for anything that sounded like what they were looking for most…bio-chemistry.

_Man, these guys were experts at everything…I have no idea what half of these things are…come on…give me something here…there has to be something here._

Suddenly, she found something in the desk she was searching that made her freeze for a moment. She seemed to recognize the black item that was in the bottom of the drawer. _Wait…I've seen this before…_

The female hedgehog took out the object, it was square and it felt like silk fabric. She started to remember where she had seen something like this before, but there was only one way to be sure. With a determined look, she wrapped the cloth around her hand, she then pulled her arm back and slammed it into the desk in front of her, denting it.

At the sound of the loud bang that rang from the desk, both Dark and Crash shot a look toward their female comrade.

Nikki's eyes widened, her quills standing on end. She then looked to her midnight comrade, slight disbelief in her eyes. "Dark…"

The female hedgehog then pulled her hand out of the twisted metal that was the top of the desk…what her two comrades saw made their eyes widen and Crash take a few steps back…what was wrapped around her hand was no longer a simple black silk cloth…but black shimmering metal, reflecting off of the dim lights above.

"Chaos what?!" Crash couldn't help but yell.

Wasting no time, Dark scanned the metal surrounding Nikki's hand. He then watched as the metal turned back into it's soft, silk-like state. Nikki took the silk off and looked at her hand, there was nothing, not even a tear in her glove.

"That…that's impossible." The meerkat stammered. "How could that be here? You guys said this was blocked off, how is a roboticized cloth in that desk drawer?!"

"I don't know…" Nikki really didn't know what to think of it herself. Does this mean that G.U.N. was using a roboticizor before the Exus? Or was there more to this than what was right in her hand. "but there might be more here about this…"

She then picks up the papers she was flipping through earlier, giving them a second look. "Let me take another look."

Dark walked over to her and gently took the stack of papers away from her. "I got it. I'm faster than you at this. If it's in here, I'll find it. You keep looking for that other research."

The female hedgehog nodded. Dark was right, he could flip through those pages in seconds and know exactly what to look for. Nikki would be better off looking for what she had really came there for. "Right."

Nikki switched places with Dark and moved toward the other end of the room. Suddenly, something caught her eye.

_What is that?_

The female blue hedgehog stopped at one of the work desks, her gaze drawn curiously toward a light next to what looked to be a scanning pad for a hand print.

_Huh, that's weird. Haven't seen something like this on a work desk before._

Dark would've noticed her being inquisitive about the scanner, however, due to the amount of information he was already scanning from the pages of notes, he didn't notice at all.

On closer examination of the scanning pad, she realized something else…it was a Mobian sized hand print, close to her hand size, maybe just a little bigger. Nikki looked at her own palm for a moment, then looked back to the pad. It was obviously some kind of security system for the desk…but there was no computer, no laptop…there didn't seem to be any wires at all in fact. Why would there just be a hand scanner on a desk? What could it be for?

_Well, not gonna find out by just staring at it._

Cautiously, Nikki softly placed her hand on the scanning pad. Once her palm was flush with the scanner, the light inside lit up.

Seeing the light out of the corner of his eye, Dark's attention was drawn away from the mountain of paperwork and toward Nikki. He couldn't help but yell out. "Gah! What are you doing?!"

Suddenly, the group heard a voice coming from the desk…

_**Bio-scan confirmed. System open.**_

"…what?" The meerkat said in utter confusion.

"It was just a start pad?" Dark muttered, a little annoyed.

Just then, a screen came up and suspended in the space above the desk. In the corner of the screen was the name…

"Lance…" Nikki then turned to Dark, with a slight bit of excitement. "Hey, I found Lance's desk."

"That's great, but do you think next time you can _not _just touch something that's glowing?" Dark was trying to keep his cool, but truth be told, that did freak him out a bit. What if there was a security system on that desk? It could've set off an alarm or worse.

Nikki gave her comrade a nervous smile. "Sorry, but you were busy so…"

Just then, something on the screen started blinking and it caught Nikki's attention. "huh, what's that?"

"Great, here we go again." Dark muttered, mentally facepalming himself.

Hearing Dark, Nikki's ear twitched. She then gave him a teasing look and spoke with a mocking, yet joking tone, trying to hide her urge to laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, do I have to ask permission first?"

_And I had a feeling she was going to go there. _Dark thought to himself. He then sighed. "No, just give me a heads up is all I'm asking."

"Fine, I'll let you know everything I'm doing. Hey Dark, _I'm breathing_." The female hedgehog teased, giving her comrade a wink.

This time, Dark definitely facepalmed himself. "Just push the stupid thing already."

Nikki then laughed and gave him a smile. "Alright, alright, relax. Couldn't help myself." She then turned back to the screen. "Alright, here we go."

Just as soon as Nikki touched the flashing button on the screen, Crash ducked behind a desk, not sure of what was going to happen and wasn't too keen on finding out.

Dark didn't show it, but he was on alert, scanning around in case trap or something of the like was triggered.

But instead of an alarm or a trap, the glowing button widened into a window on the screen. The Mobians looked curiously at the screen as a scene began to play before them.

"Oh, it's a video." Nikki said out loud.

Dark gave her a look then muttered with sarcasm. "Yes Nikki, that's a video. Now what do you have your hand on right now?"

Nikki gives a confused look. "The desk?-" She then realized what Dark was doing and facepalmed herself. "ugh really?"

Dark laughed and gave her a smirk. "Couldn't help myself."

"Yeah, don't blame you." Nikki sighed. She did feel tired, that happens when you get only a few hours of sleep.

"Guys, something's up."

Both hedgehogs looked toward their younger comrade. "huh?"

"Look." The meerkat pointed at the video screen.

What had been a quiet video journal, had suddenly turned to chaos. From what the three Mobians could see, the alarms were ringing, red lights flashed off and on. There were other scientists running in the background, some of them rushing out the door where Nikki, Dark, and Crash had entered earlier.

However, there were a few scientists that were still in the room, despite everyone else had already ran frantically out of the room. One of them was assumed to be the owner of the desk, a Mobian just in the camera's blind spot.

In the recording, the group could hear another voice in the background, trying to yell over the sirens. "Lance, come on! We have to go, now!"

"No! I've worked too hard to lose this project!" The one at the desk yelled over the sirens as he was typing away on what was assumed to be another screen.

One of the doctors in the background turned around. "You're kidding me…"

Nikki and Dark recognized that scientist right away, but Nikki said it first. "That's Doc Phoenix."

Their attention was brought back to the monitor as the one at the desk spoke again. "Just give me a minute."

"A minute we don't have!" Phoenix yelled, frustrated and worried.

"Phoenix, if they managed to get down here, then they knew where the base was…they might know the exits too. We might walk right into a trap if we head up there."

Dr. Phoenix in the video gave a slightly shocked look, not able to think of what to say.

Then another voice spoke, it was the third scientist in the video, another Overlander. "He does have a point."

"Dark, who's that?" Nikki asked when she saw the third scientist.

Her midnight comrade answered her. "Not sure, let me check."

While Dark scanned for a match for this mysterious third doctor, the video still played before them. Phoenix tried to reason with his comrade, who was still just out of the video's field of vision. "Honestly, is this project worth more than your life?"

The doctor closest to the monitor, still out of the camera's sight answered him. "My daughter's is."

Hearing that, Nikki's eyes widened. _His daughter?…_

"You've been working on that here?" Phoenix looked shocked to hear this, like it was something forbidden. He then suddenly yelled. "Are you insane?! If they caught you, they would've-!"

Lance cut him off. "Right sure, lecture me now as we're being attacked by alien robots, brilliant John, fantastic."

In the background, they could see one of the scientists running across the screen. It was the third scientist that was in the room, the one that Dark was trying to scan information for. There was one thing strange about it…he wasn't running toward the exit, but in the other direction.

The Dr. Phoenix in the recording shouted at the scientist running behind him. "Wait, now where are _you_ going?!"

The scientist answered, but continued typing away on the keypad. "He's right, they knew the base was here and they got this far..."

Lance stepped into the frame, though he had his back turned toward the camera., addressing the third scientists. "But Roth, we haven't tested it yet, you could-"

The three Mobians recognized the name right away. "Roth."

It was the name of the scientist that created the notes that Crash found. Crash took the note paper out of his hat and opened. "That's this guy right here-"

Suddenly, there was a loud bang that made the group jump.

Crash almost dropped the page, but scrambled to catch it. He grabbed the page and pulled it toward his chest, blinking as he looked to where the loud sound came from. "Wh-what was that?"

They realized that it came from the video that was playing on the suspended screen. The base was under attack before, but now the fight was escalating. The camera shook and the scientists were struggling to keep their balance.

"You have a family!" Roth shouted at Lance over the roaring sound of the quake around them.

Roth then turned to Phoenix. "And you have more knowledge than they'd know what to do with."

He then closed his eyes as he continued. "I'm just the guy that wires things together."

Lance then tried to reason with his comrade. "Roth, we're not leavin you here. We can make a stand here, we can-"

"Don't you argue with me, Ferret!" Roth shot back.

At that, Nikki froze. _Ferret?...his daughter?...That's it…That's gotta be it…This guy…Lance…he's Jodi's father._

Dark was able to read Nikki's thoughts and a slight look of surprise came over him.

The two hedgehogs were quickly drawn back to the screen as the argument continued. Roth was still trying to convince Lance to leave. "You know nothing about what is out there right now."

"And you do?" Lance shot back.

However, once he saw Roth turn his gaze away from him, a frightening realization came over the ferret. "…Oh Chaos you do."

"I'm sorry…" Roth responded "…I should've told you-"

"Sorry, Sorry?! Are you bloody kidding me?!"

Worried that a fight would break out, when it was obviously not the time, Phoenix was about to reason with his comrade. "Lance-"

But the ferret turned to him and yelled. "Don't 'Lance' me! He knew those robots were going to attack here!"

This was when the group was able to actually see the ferret's profile. His fur was a white, almost silvery chrome color. Strangely enough, his eyes seemed to match that of his fur, but they had this hint of light blue that shimmered in the dim lights.

The ferret then turned to Roth, giving him a glare. "You're going to tell me what you know, all of it."

Suddenly, there was another loud rumble. The ground shook once again and they heard the sound of gunfire coming through the vents leading to the upper floors.

"You hear that?" Roth asked rhetorically, giving a serious look to his comrades. "You delay this anymore and no one will get out of here alive. I may have known about them, but none of that makes a difference right now."

The scientist then continued as he typed something into one of the keypads on the wall. "Now, you both are going to get out of here…And I'm going to stall them."

Suddenly the screen began to flicker, but they could still hear Lance's voice in the background, calling. "Wait no, Roth…you can't do this…Roth!"

Then, silence…the light screen dimmed and closed up, disappearing into the thin air.

"Wait, that's it?" Nikki asked. "I mean, what happened?"

"Not sure. It is old remember" Dark reminded. "Probably finally gave out."

"So…what happened to everybody then?" Crash asked, though afterward wondering if it was a good idea to ask. He wanted to ask more, but was afraid he wouldn't like the answer. _They weren't killed were they?  
_

Dark was able to hear that thought and answered. "If you're asking if they were killed here?...no I don't think so. We would've seen evidence of that."

"That's right, there's not even a skeleton down here." Nikki added. "And we know that Doc Phoenix got out, so maybe the others did too."

"Maybe, still no way of knowing thou-" Suddenly Dark sensed something that made him freeze up. It was a feeling that he never felt before and it did actually startle him for a moment.

Nikki noticed something was wrong with her midnight comrade. Dark was normally calm and collected, though sometimes he was easily annoyed and he did sometimes relax around Nikki, but this was something completely different. The hedgehog almost looked like he was in shock. "Dark?"

"Something's coming." The midnight hedgehog muttered, he then quickly snapped himself out of his trance like state.

The small meerkat gulped and hid behind one of the desks, shaking. "wh-what?"

Distant echoes of clanging footsteps carried into the room from the other side of a wall. The wall itself was actually a hanger door, probably meant for easy transfer of larger projects from the lab to the testing area on the other side.

The two hedgehogs readied themselves, they have dealt with a lot of dangers on their base raids together. However, they have never heard footsteps like this…or this large in a base before.

Something seemed to click inside of Dark, it was like it was…familiar to him somehow. His eyes narrowed and he growled as he heard the footsteps come closer.

The female hedgehog next to him noticed that her midnight comrade was on edge. _Dark, what is it? Is it an Elite?_

_No…_

Suddenly, the hanger door bent in toward them into the room, the dark metal warped to the intruder's will to enter. The lights flickered at the sudden impact, keeping almost a strobe light pattern as they tried to bring themselves back to life. Another loud bang followed, the door molding further into the room and threatening structure to fail. Finally, the segments of metal couldn't hold anymore and with the final blow of the mysterious intruder, the hanger door broke into pieces, flying across the room, forcing the group to dodge and separate from one another.

As soon as they made it behind some cover, Crash trembled behind one of the overturned lab tables. "Gah! Seriously?! What is up with this place?!"

A large metal foot stepped into the room with a loud clang. Red lights shined into the room in a grid, scanning for signs of life. It didn't take long for it to find the intruders and it turned toward them, taking the two hedgehogs into it's sights.

Dark glared directly at it, knowing fully what it was.

"_It's a G.U.N. Mech."_

* * *

Author's Note: Wow, a lot of secrets revealed in this chapter...and also a very mysterious thing.

How will Nikki, Dark, and Crash get out of this one? And what is going on with Dark?

Find out in part 2 of this chapter :D


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